Where have I been...

Well, the easy one word answer is bathroom.  What a ride we have been on over the last few months.  Potty training SUCKS!  We have tried everything, and when I say everything I really mean EVERYTHING, and nothing has worked for Charlie.  So here is a little rundown...  (if talking about poop bothers you just quit reading now :) )

February - 2 weeks before Charlie turned 5 we learned that his name was next on the waiting list to get on the Autism Waiver.  Once you turn 5 you "expire" off the list and cannot get on it.  Tyson "expired", Charlie was 2 weeks from "expiring" when they called.  I was so excited.

July - yep, took me until July to get any services started.  First thing on the list was to get this kid potty trained before Kindergarten.  He was great at peeing in the toilet, but decided he did not want to poop in there.  We told him not to poop in his pants, so he didn't.

August - started Kindergarten in underwear, but still not pooping in the toilet.  Or anywhere.  We decided to take him to the doctor for some help.  He was backed up...completely.  So the Myralax diet began.  4 times a day.  Completely liquid poop.  Back to diapers.

September - back to the doctor, x-ray shows he is still backed up.  3 times a day Myralax to try to make him have to push it out.  Finally, he succeeded in a giant poop in his diaper.

October - started working with an autism specialist who wrote up a program for us to follow.  We took him every 30 minutes.  When you have to set a timer for every 30 minutes your day becomes really long.  I feel like we lived in the bathroom.  We started wearing diapers and kept data sheets of all of his accidents.  We went down to 2 times a day with the Myralax. 

November 6th - we started underwear full time.  I thought our specialist had officially lost her mind.  He was pooping 8 times a day in his diaper and we had only timed it one time in the toilet.  We went down to a 1/2 of a capful of Myralax.  I decided to keep him home from school that day just to see how it went, assuming I was going to call her and tell her we can't do this to him.  He did awesome.  Since we started the underwear full time he has had one pee accident and a few streaks, but that is it.  I still won't say that he is potty trained because we still are taking him all the time, he does not initiate it.  But we are in underwear and he is keeping them clean and dry with us taking him every hour.  I will take that for now...

So that is where I have been.  It's been my whole life since July.  When I'm not in the bathroom with him I am holding a meeting with his team at school about it.  I have missed my sister's birthday party, Tyson's soccer and football games, lots of KSU games, and any social life I had, but it is so worth it to not have to put my 5 year old in diapers anymore.  (well at least during the day, nighttime is next...) 

Kaw Valley Rodeo

This might be one of the funniest things that I have ever witnessed in all my life.  This is also the fastest I have ever seen Tyson run.  The entire place was watching Tyson and the announcers even got a kick out of him.  Enjoy!


Kaw Valley Rodeo 2013

4th of July

I realize the 4th of July was a very long time ago but it is a pretty big deal around here.  We have the privilege of hosting the entire Lundstrom clan.  Joel and I love hosting and we know our house is way too small for all of us, but we hope we can keep doing it for years to come.  This year we finally ventured out to watch some fireworks in Wamego, a small town near here.  They were absolutely amazing!  Tyson is usually not a fan of loud fireworks so I was prepared to sit in the car if we had to, but it turned out they were beautiful enough he fought through the loudness.  It was a fun holiday and thanks to all of you for coming and I hope you will be back next year!  And I am pretty bad at taking pictures and hosting so I don't have a great selection.  Sorry Lila!

 

The best seat in the house, laying on the knee board!

We also did some sparklers, which really are just the most dangerous thing and I'm surprised any of us survived childhood.

And finally, the celebration of Baby Lila turning one!!

Pink kinda looks weird in my house, huh?

Flint Hills Summer Fun Camp

Do you think they were excited to start summer camp?

Baseball Season 2013

This was the first year of kid pitch baseball for Tyson.  At the beginning of the year I thought this was going to be a terrible, boring year of baseball.  To my surprise it ended up being one of the most fun years we have had.  The kids improved so much, and Tyson ended the season with some great hits.  Tyson was the biggest cheerleader on the team as usual.  He just loves being part of a team.  He would stand in the batter's box, face the dugout, pump his arms up and down, and yell "cheer for Tyson!"  And you know what, they did, every time.  The hardest part of the year was entertaining Charlie because he really, really, really, really wanted to play.

My Two Favorite Memories

This is the last post about the trip, I promise.  I just wanted to write about my two favorite memories so I can always go back to them on here. 

#1 - As soon as we put that Goofy hat on Charlie he became Goofy.  It was magical.  Like when Frosty puts on his hat and comes to life.  He went straight into "parade mode".  You will know exactly what the means when you watch the video.  Here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIU3CD4M9-4


#2 - Tyson was so affectionate.  I don't know if it was because we spent so much time together.  Or if it was that he was having so much fun and wasn't quite sure how to relay that.  Or maybe it was just because he often got what he asked for while he was being so sweet walking with his arm around you.  In the pool one day he said, "let's swim together as a family, the four of us!"  Melt my heart.  It was hard to get a picture of it because if you weren't the one being loved you had to watch the wondering 5 year old so you couldn't stop and pull out the camera.  So this is the best I got.  We heard more "I Love You's" then we have ever heard.  I'm telling you that place is just magical!

And just a couple more of my favorites and then I promise to blog about something else...

Tyson's heaven

 

Pure joy

 

Disney Resort

We decided that it would be an easier trip if we stayed at a Disney Resort.  That way we could jump on a bus and go from hotel to park and park to park with no problems.  We stayed at the Movies resort and it was awesome.  Disney does not just build a hotel, they build everything bigger and more fantastic then anyone else would ever do.  Joel and I talked about how we never even saw a railing with chipped paint on it.  The boys would have still loved the vacation if all we did was stay at the hotel. 

That is Tyson standing there.  He was so big I couldn't get all of him in one picture.

This puts it in perspective too.  Joel is over 6 feet tall!

Charlie's favorite, T-Rex!

Those people weren't with us, just wanted to show how big they were. 

Our room was in the 101 Dalmations wing.

    

Character Love

The boys LOVED meeting all of the characters during our vacation.  Every single one of them.